DO student debating on taking USMLE during rotations

[imasadpanda]

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I'm a third year osteopathic medical student on the fence about taking the USMLE step 1. Long story short I went to sit for the step 1 USMLE and they wouldn't let me take the exam due to a name discrepancy on my scheduling permit. I did not have time to reschedule before rotations. I am now 3 rotations into my third year. I have a four week vacation coming up, followed by a four week OMM rotation and a four week OB/GYN elective in that order. I got a 503 on my step 1 COMLEX. Not great but not horrible.

I am seriously considering an OB/GYN residency (AOA or ACGME is fine with me), so here are my following questions:

1) Should I take USMLE step 1? I already studied for it once, is it worth the sweat, blood, and tears to do it again? Considering the new ACGME restrictions on DO students doing AOA residencies, I am hesitant to go out into the world of residency without rockin' USMLE score on my application.

2) If I do decided to take the USMLE step 1, will I have time to get a decent USMLE score for OBGYN? I would be studying during my vacation and OMM rotation, taking USMLE in, say, mid to late November 2013. I have no idea how "intense" an OMM rotation will be, probably pretty low key. Is 8 weeks enough time?

3) If I don't do USMLE, I would like some recommendations on COMLEX friendly ACGME residencies. I am open to an AOA residency, but I am just starting the planning process.

Thanks!

 

[Trogghunter]

Yes, take it. What is a couple months of studying for years of better residency/training? With a 503 you're not that competitive for acgme with comlex only. Maybe if you 600/650+ on both. There are also fewer AOA acgme programs, and they're all in MI basically. Yes, if you want to do OBGYN, you better either schedule many rotations and visiting weekends and be impressive but also get along well with the weirdest breed of physician, or you should take the usmle. You already studied for step 1, just do like 50-100 uworld qs a day and some nbmes.

Its not that bad to study during rotations and youll get used to doing it for shelfs and step 2. I did half of uworld after taking comlex in anticipation of a avg score, but I smoked 1 and 2 and knew that I couldn't get a comparable 2 digit on usmle. If I was going into a competitive field or going in w/o high boards I'd take usmle.

Look at what programs require. I made my decision partly bc I found that 70% of IM takes comlex. Its lower for OB...check in the other threads, there's a breakdown that someone posted.


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[Trogghunter]

With 8 weeks, you should be fine, especially on omt. I studied during surgery and IM. I studied for step 2 over 2 mo where I spent 50hr/wk in hospital/clinic. You can do it, be diligent. Just take an NBME every 2 weeks. Get your score as high as you can, but you're going to have to relearn biochem/immuno and mechanisms.

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[aimedicine]

I'm a third year osteopathic medical student on the fence about taking the USMLE step 1. Long story short I went to sit for the step 1 USMLE and they wouldn't let me take the exam due to a name discrepancy on my scheduling permit. I did not have time to reschedule before rotations. I am now 3 rotations into my third year. I have a four week vacation coming up, followed by a four week OMM rotation and a four week OB/GYN elective in that order. I got a 503 on my step 1 COMLEX. Not great but not horrible.

I am seriously considering an OB/GYN residency (AOA or ACGME is fine with me), so here are my following questions:

1) Should I take USMLE step 1? I already studied for it once, is it worth the sweat, blood, and tears to do it again? Considering the new ACGME restrictions on DO students doing AOA residencies, I am hesitant to go out into the world of residency without rockin' USMLE score on my application.

2) If I do decided to take the USMLE step 1, will I have time to get a decent USMLE score for OBGYN? I would be studying during my vacation and OMM rotation, taking USMLE in, say, mid to late November 2013. I have no idea how "intense" an OMM rotation will be, probably pretty low key. Is 8 weeks enough time?

3) If I don't do USMLE, I would like some recommendations on COMLEX friendly ACGME residencies. I am open to an AOA residency, but I am just starting the planning process.

Thanks!

OBGYN is not consider competitive, if the rest of applications are solid, i would forget about taking step 1 (seriously enjoy your vacay, the road ahead is long)...instead i would kill my OBGYN rotation and the rest of my clerkship, do some away rotations in some DO and MD programs you are interested in....Kill step 2 and comlex 2 and apply broadly. B/c if you are able to get a 580+/230+ on the second set of boards i really think you have a decent chance in matching MD.

 

[imasadpanda]

So you're saying with competitive step 2 scores on both USMLE and COMLEX, that I would be eligible for an allopathic residency? I thought that most required a passing score on USMLE step 1.

I emailed several programs and most of them told me they needed step 1. There was one exception in Arizona. Do you know of any in California that would accept a high step 2 score in place of step 1?

 

[thumbz]

I could be totally wrong but don't you need to take USMLE step 1 to take step 2? I always assumed this was the case, if I'm wrong someone please let me know

 

[pattr]

I could be totally wrong but don't you need to take USMLE step 1 to take step 2? I always assumed this was the case, if I'm wrong someone please let me know

no you don't need to have taken step 1 to take step 2. you can take them in any order you want.

 

[Textbookversion]

I think the smarter choice may be to study really hard during this year, do well on your shelf exams, and then kill USMLE step 2.